Fallen Idol
by Sarah1281
Summary: Adal Helmi had always been more of a fighter than a politician and Aunn had always been her inspiration just by virtue of being a woman with power who chose to live by the sword. Now she was lost over the throne and Adal couldn't see how it was worth it.


Fallen Idol

Disclaimer: I do not own Dragon Age.

Note: As to Adal and Denek being related…he's introduced as the son of Lady Helmi and she's introduced as the eldest daughter of Lady Helmi. Sure it could be a different Lady Helmi but it's left vague enough that it could be the same.

Adal Helmi was not a disappointment. No, that was the dubious honor reserved for her elder brother Denek. Denek was probably the most ill-suited deshyr Orzammar had had in generations. He openly resented everyone else in the Assembly, he refused to hide his egalitarian viewpoints, and he let their mother make his choices for him. Not, of course, that she could blame him for that last one. Their mother may never have been a warrior but she was still formidable and always seemed to know exactly what was going on. Yes, their mother was a consummate politician and since her brother clearly wasn't it was for the best that he took her advice. Really, not much had changed when their mother had stepped down as deshyr.

Adal wasn't a politician at all but that was okay. She wasn't called upon to be one. Instead, she was a fighter. It was certainly unusual for a woman to be a fighter, particularly if she were not a member of the Silent Sisters. Her mother had always been too practical to let something like that stand in the way of increasing House Helmi's wealth and prestige and Adal was better than most of the male fighters and so it wasn't particularly difficult for her to begin her career in the Proving arena. Some of the other fighters and, in fact, the Proving Master himself weren't happy about it, she could tell, but who were they to argue with House Helmi?

In a lot of ways, living by the sword was simpler than trying to make her way in the realm of the politicians. Denek was certainly living proof of how someone ill-suited for Assembly politics and yet forced to engage in them anyway could hope to make out; it had taken him less than a week to personally offend each and every one of the other seventy-nine deshyrs. Actually, he was probably luckier than most would be as the power his House held granted him certain protections that, say, a Vollney or an Ivo would not be afforded.

Needless to say, Adal was grateful for this as she was quite fond of her brother. That, as it happened, was another benefit of staying away from politics: it allowed her to be fond of her siblings. The more politically-minded people saw their siblings as rivals at best, obstacles to be removed at worst. Take the Aeducans, for instance. The most surprising thing about that whole affair was just how long it had taken for one to kill another and to be exiled in turn…or so the official story went. Lord Harrowmont didn't believe that that was the way it had happened for a minute and Adal had always respected him a great deal.

There was another reason, of course, that she didn't want to remember Aunn Aeducan as a disgraced Kinslayer. She hadn't been as close to Aunn as Nerav was but she recognized the other girl as a kindred spirit, a fellow nobly-born fighter. That wasn't to say that Aunn shared Adal's disinterest in politics, of course, because if that had been the case then the question of King Endrin's successor would have been a lot easier to answer. Aunn hadn't let things like others looking down on female fighters stop her and had insisted on being given the same opportunities as her brothers were. It was all well and good if House Helmi were going to support a female fighter but for the _palace_ to do so as well? It certainly quieted a lot of murmured discontent as no one wanted to risk the wrath of someone who might one day be their Queen.

One thing even the most conservative of families did not disapprove of was the Silent Sisters. Adal respected their dedication and battle prowess, of course, but a part of her resented them as well. It was perfectly accepted for her to be a Silent Sister. Silent Sisters were **safe**. They had no tongue and could not function on their own so how could they ever be a threat to conventional wisdom? How could they ever change anybody's attitudes? In their dedication they basically neutralized a great deal of their own power. Silent Sisters were not forbidden to marry but who would marry someone who had cut out her own tongue and would never be able to speak? They couldn't raise sons who were more open-minded or daughters who would fight. Once their Proving career was over they were just set quietly aside and looked upon as a mere curiosity. The Silent Sisters' dedication was a deterrent to many woman who wished to fight but not to go to such extreme measures as they thought a woman had to to be taken seriously.

Adal hoped to change that with her blades. Aunn was helping to change it as well. She was a princess and she insisted on fighting. Her father approved and therefore no one could tell her that she didn't belong in armor like the men. For that alone, Aunn was her inspiration and Adal knew she wasn't the only one to think so. And when Aunn became a commander and gained more power, perhaps even the throne then the idea of a woman fighter who didn't have to mutilate themselves first would only become more accepted. It had all looked so very promising…and now all of that hope was gone. The Aeducans had rejected Aunn and subsequently so had the rest of Orzammar. She was gone now, likely dead in the Deep Roads.

The single best chance women fighters had had for acceptance was lost and for what? Because Aunn had wanted the throne? Because Trian had? Because _Bhelen_ had? It didn't seem worth it. How could this possibly be worth it? Maybe that was why she preferred to stick to swords and Provings instead of poison and politics.

In the end, there was really only one thing that Adal could do. Her idol may have fallen, but she hadn't. If she now had to work even harder to prove that women could be fighters without the mutilation or the fratricide then so be it.

Adal may be a fighter but she was also a noble and rather accustomed to getting what she wanted. There was no way she was stopping now.

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